Conventionally, water which drains from a sink or basin, such as a restroom sink, travels through the drain opening of the sink and empties into undersink piping. The undersink piping directs the water from the sink into the building's waste water system. The undersink drain piping is commonly referred to as a "P-trap" drain assembly, and "P-trap" assemblies are common to many sinks in both commercial and residential applications.
The P-trap assembly generally includes a vertical pipe section which extends downwardly from the sink drain opening and extends below the sink to couple with a J-shaped pipe section. The J-shaped pipe section makes a 180.degree. bend and then extends vertically upward to couple with an L-shaped pipe section which makes a 90.degree. bend from the J-shaped section to extend generally horizontally into the wall to connect the P-trap with the waste water system of the building. The P-trap creates a vapor barrier preventing undesirable vapors from passing back into the building through the drain piping. The J-shaped section also serves the purpose of capturing or trapping any foreign objects which fall down the drain and which may become lodged in the waste water drainage system therefore clogging the system, hence the name "P-trap". Under the force of gravity, any foreign objects will sit in the bottom of the J-shaped section to be subsequently removed, such as by a plumber.
Also extending below sinks are hot and cold water supply pipes commonly referred to as supply water angle valves, which include supply line sections which extend generally horizontally from the wall to connect to a valve and faucet line sections that extend generally vertically upward from the valve to connect to the sink faucet apparatus.
Current building regulations require that restroom facilities in a public building, such as restroom sinks, be accessible to all people, including disabled persons and particularly those disabled persons who must use a wheelchair. Persons in wheelchairs must often maneuver the chair partially under the sink to access it. Since the water supply pipes and P-trap drain pipes protrude from the wall under the sink there is a risk of abrasions to the person's legs from the hard piping or even burns from the temperature of the piping which is heated by the water passing therethrough. The current federal and state regulations regarding undersink piping, most notably the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), require that the P-trap and water supply piping be covered and insulated so as to protect a person using the sink from being burned or from incurring injuries from impact with the piping. As a result of these regulations, various methods and apparatuses have been utilized to try and adequately cover and insulate undersink P-traps and water supply piping.
In the past, one of the more popular methods of insulation was to utilize loose foam insulation which was wrapped around the piping. However, traditional foam insulation usually fits poorly and is difficult to secure resulting in wasted time and frustration by the plumber or other installer. Furthermore, the foam wrap, due to its poor fit and inadequate securing means, is not very aesthetically pleasing in its appearance. Additionally, the ribbed construction of a wrapped pipe leaves ridges and cavities which trap dirt and other bacteria under the sink.
Various other methods and apparatuses have been utilized to cover a P-trap beneath a sink as is evidenced by various patents in the field. However, besides having other drawbacks, many of these other devices and methods are still difficult and time consuming to install. For example, one such apparatus utilizes three separate pieces which must each be individually placed around a pipe section and secured thereon. Before installation, the pieces have to be individually cut apart from each other and then trimmed to fit properly. Such an installation process generally requires no less than three or four cuts of the unitary insulative piece to separate the pieces and sometimes even six cuts for completing the subsequent trimming and fitting of the pieces. Thus, the process is somewhat cumbersome and slow.
Inherent in such cutting and trimming procedures is the requirement that the installer measure each of the pieces for the proper fit. The measurement steps which are necessary further slow down the installation process. For example, undersink piping assemblies use pipes which are not uniform in their dimensions, and particularly not uniform in their length dimensions from assembly to assembly. As may be appreciated, an installer will have to measure the pipes and then transfer that measurement to the various insulation pieces. That is, they will have to individually measure and mark each insulation piece before trimming. Even if the proper measurement tools are available, the measurement steps are time consuming and tedious because they must be accurately transformed to several cylindrically-shaped pieces of insulation. Additionally, once the measurement of the pipes is complete, it often is not readily apparent to an installer what dimensions are actually to be measured on the insulation pieces, particularly if the installer, such as a plumber, has never made such an installation. Furthermore, since the insulative pieces themselves have circular cross sections and therefore are difficult to manipulate for transferring the measurement thereto, the process is still tedious even if the installer knows what to do.
As well, the interior surfaces of the insulation pieces, which is where the measurement marks are usually made in order to preserve the exterior appearance of the covers, may be resistant to many commonly used marking devices.
Consequently, various of the prior art apparatuses require an inefficient, and therefore, costly installation procedure making them particularly undesirable to the facility owner who is paying for the time that is required from the hassle presented by some of the prior art apparatuses and the measurement steps necessary at installation make these prior art devices undesirable to the installer as well.
Accordingly, there is still a need for a simple and sanitary P-trap cover assembly and method which addresses the shortcomings of the existing devices and methods.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide such a cover assembly and method which addresses the shortcomings of prior art devices and is still effective to prevent a disabled person from being burned or bruised and cut by the undersink piping when using a sink.
It is further an objective to provide proper insulation while reducing the complexity of the installation procedure, and particularly reducing the complexity of the measurement and trimming procedures necessary for proper installation.
It is still another objective to eliminate some of the steps that have been necessary in the past for proper installation.
It is still another objective to make the installation process easier and faster, and thus, more cost efficient.